Is there too much money in football?
Yesterday, in our reading session we used our debating to skills to answer the question ‘Is there too much money in football?‘. The debate came about because of an article we read last week in First News.
The children were given some information and had to collate this into a table in their books. We had to think about our own arguments whilst considering an alternative viewpoint so that we could put forward a better argument.
It was great to hear what the children thought, especially where pay in other professions was concerned. Most agreed that whilst footballers have a relatively short career, they shouldn’t be paid as much as people in other, more important professions: doctors, nurses, police officers, fire fighters, paramedics and even teachers!
The skill of debating is a useful life-skill and one that we’ll focus on throughout the year. Help at home by encouraging your child to form opinions about a range of things: things they’ve seen on the news, something they have read, something they like or dislike, political issues, social issues. Be sure to encourage your child to consider an alternative viewpoint as well.
Arctic Explorers
In topic lessons this week, we’ve been exploring the less explored. We learnt about the first British woman to climb Everest and then delved right to the deepest part of the ocean: the mariana trench.
Then, we set sail to the Arctic. After discussing what we knew (and didn’t know) about it, we imagined that we were at a research camp, ready to set out on a day-long expedition. Working in the Arctic requires lots of calories so we worked in groups to plan what food we would take with us. We had to think about eating enough calories (3305kJ) to have enough energy for the journey; taking enough for all four members of the team to eat; and ensuring we stayed within our expedition budget of £60.
The children found the task difficult but worked well and resiliently together.
Amazing Grammar Learning
This week, we’ve been learning/revising loads about grammar and punctuation. To ensure the children were actively learning, we spent the week making a PaG board game. Each day, we focused on a specific area of grammar (word classes, punctuation, sentence types) and at the end of each lesson we prepared test style questions for each area.
Today, we enjoyed playing our games. Obviously, we weren’t just playing; without realising we were learning. It was great to see children helping each other learn whilst having fun.
Super Spelling
Last week, children were given a list of words to learn. I asked children to evidence their learning in their spelling books. Three children in particular really stood out.
Lori and Nicky showed that they had definitely been practising their spellings…
And so did Pia…
It’s important to remember that different children learn in different ways. What you see here may not work for your child. However, what I really like about these examples is that the children have actively engaged with the process of learning their spellings. They haven’t just learnt them by rote for a test. It’s likely that these children will have learnt these spellings for life. These children are also demonstrating that they have learnt how they learn best – this is a huge predictor of future of success. Well done to everyone in Year 5, especially Pia, Nicky and Lori.
Science learning
To continue our weekly science learning, we planned an investigation today. We started off by looking at a range of balls and wondered what we could investigate.
In groups, we decided on one investigation that we could carry out in school. Then, we had one minute to convince the rest of the class that everyone should carry out our investigation. Here’s the results of our vote:
Then, we planned the investigation that we will carry out next week.
After-school clubs – it’s not too late to sign up
Our Autumn term after-school clubs start next week for 8 weeks.
We do have some spaces available so please contact the office if you would like your child/children to take part.
Clubs on offer include hockey, multi-sports, multi-skills, dance, gymnastics, cookery, Lego Club and Code Club.
Marvellous Maths
This week, we’ve shifted our mathematical focus to the first of the four operations – addition and subtraction. On Monday, we sorted some calculations into ones we could do mentally, ones that we’d need to make jottings for and ones that we’d need to use a formal method for (column addition or subtraction).
After we’d sorted the calculations, we had a go at each one using a range of mental methods. We even had the chance to create a story for some of them.
Yesterday, we reminded ourselves about column addition. We used concrete manipulatives (like Base 10 and counters) to check we understood the process and then played a game in pairs that meant we got loads of practice in. Some of us made posters that explained the method. Children will use these if they get stuck during our lesson today.
It’s really easy to practise addition and subtraction at home. Simply create two (or three) random numbers and add or subtract them (using both formal and mental methods were necessary). You can check your answer using a calculator. For an added challenge, create a story for the calculation.
School Savings Club dates for paying in
The School Savings Club paying in sessions for this year are at 3.15-3.45pm on the following dates (the penultimate Thursday of each half term).
- 12 October
- 07 December
- 01 February
- 22 March
- 17 May
- 12 July
If you’re unable to attend in person, please hand in any money to be deposited to the office in a sealed envelope addressed to Mrs Tiffany.
Information will shortly be sent home about the accounts and if your child would like to open account, please enquire at the office. There is an extra incentive for pupils in Year 3 as Leeds City Council will add £10 to your child’s account.
Practice that feels like play!
Practice that feels like play! Does this sound beneficial for your child? Have a look at IXL. It’s an online tool where you can access different activities to help your child practise basic skills.
It’s split into year groups, specifically looking at English and Maths, then each subject is broken down into sections. You can get a flavour of the activities by hovering over the title and can have a go at some of them – it looks great fun and very child friendly. The questions are all interactive and there are detailed explanations for new concepts.
There is a small monthly fee if you wish to sign up. Take a look – it might be something you want to explore.
Explorers
This week, we’ve become explorers as part of our new big topic. Explorers is a geography driven topic that will see us embark on a journey round the world (not literally!) as we start to see that the world is bigger than we think.
Yesterday, we started by scouring through some atlases to see where in the world we’d like to explore further (LO: Where would you like to explore?). Then, we saw some images of amazing places from all seven continents (ask your child to name the seven continents) and imagined how cool it would be to explore them. In our books, we chose our favourite place and said ‘I know…I think…I wonder’.
Today, we became virtual explorers by using Google Earth to explore some places we fancied visiting. We discussed the physical and human features of place and compared some of them to a place we are all familiar with: Moortown. It turns out, the Great Barrier Reef is nothing like Moortown Corner!
After being ‘wowed’ by the wonders of modern technology, we used a good old fashioned OS map to explore some places a little closer to home (LO: What can I learn from a map?). We discussed what we knew about each place just from looking at the map and then we used a key to decipher what some of the symbols meant (ask your child if they can remember any).
When we started to read our class novel, we noticed a map on the inside cover. Isabella, the main protagonist, is about to embark on a journey that will see her explore the mythical, dangerous land in which she lives. We presumed the Isle of Joya was a completely fictional place until we noticed something on this page…
After typing the latitude and longitude into Google we discovered that they are for an actual place: La Gomera. It turns out, the novel is loosely based on the author’s holidays to the Canary Islands as a child – obviously, she’s added in some mystery and magic! To link with our map learning we created our own key and added symbols to the map of Joya. We used some of the setting descriptions within the book to help and predicted what might lie in the forbidden woods!
So, in our topic this week we’ve explored using OS maps, explored using atlases, become virtual explorers and explored a fictional land.